A/N: This is it…

This chapter hold the scene I actually choked up writing.

I wouldn't fault anyone else if they didn't have the same reaction, god knows that it takes a lot for me to actually bawl when reading something.

Anyway, I'll leave you to it.

Enjoy.

Scene 30:

Protective Instincts

For a second, Gokudera looked shocked, then insulted, then sad. Emotions that all flashed over his face in a matter of seconds.

"No." he answered sharply, no hesitation what so ever as though his response should have been more than obvious. Apparently, Tsuna must have looked as though she still didn't believe him, for he kept talking, turning his face away from hers. "I have gone too long a time without trusting anyone." he gave her a long, gentle look. "I decided to follow you because you are accepting." a small smile spread over his lips. "Your heart was open for someone like me."

A sigh escaped Tsuna, but she found herself smiling none the less.

"You're doing it again," she mumbled.

"Doing what?" Gokudera frowned, turning fully towards her again.

"Speak the way I imagine a very romantic guy would speak to his girlfriend." her hands rose up in exasperation, winching slightly at the pain from the movement. She relaxed back into the sheets, giving Gokudera an uncomfortable look. "It's weird."

Gokudera shook his head at her words.

"I am merely stating my loyalty to you, Juudaime."

"But why are you loyal?" it was a question that had plagued Tsuna for quite a while now, as in her eyes, his devotion towards her had sprung out of nowhere that afternoon in the park, switching his attitude from a glaring loan wolf to something of a loyal guard dog within seconds.

Seeing her distress, Gokudera let out a heavy sigh.

"Juudaime..." he said the word in little more than a whisper, but she caught it away. "You are the first one in a long time… to show you actually care for me, after I had been little more than cold towards you." he reached out an arm, gently taking her hand in his. "Such a kind heart should never go unrewarded." he watched the dainty limb for a long moment, slowly stroking his thumb before he dare to meet her gaze. "I want to stay by your side for as long as you want me to." he declared, holding her gaze for what felt like forever. "I feel, strangely at ease in your presence."

Tsuna was well aware of the pressure on her hand, and in normal circumstances, she would have felt this terrible panicked sensation, not to mention the desire to yank her hand out of his hold. But… for the first time… she just didn't feel like doing it.

She liked the connection, the heat from his palms enveloping her smaller hands warming them up.

When was the last time she had allowed herself physical contact?

She couldn't remember.

Maybe she did during those three missing years, but she could never be sure.

Looking down at their joined hands, she found a smile tugging at her lips.

"That's friendship." she breathed, glancing up at her… friend.

Takeshi hesitated at the counter.

The shop had long since closed for the day but he knew that the chefs would still be busy cleaning up whatever mess they had created in the kitchen during the day as well as preparing most of the less perishable things for tomorrow.

They'd be at it for hours still.

Normally, Takeshi would have called out a simple greeting and went on his merry way.

But not today.

He would talk to his old man this time, nothing was going to stop him.

Squaring his shoulders, Takeshi walked around the counter, slowly making his way over to the opening in the wall, peering around the corner into the busy kitchen.

Three chefs and his old man hard at work, moving around one another with practiced ease without once speaking to one another.

He was about to break this routine in the worst way possible.

"Old man?" he called out, hating himself for how uncertain he sounded.

Reaching out to his father should not be such a nerve-wracking experience for purity's sake!

There was a brief moment of pause in the chopping.

Huh…

That was new.

The sound started up again within the second, though the other chefs did turn to give him silent greetings before returning to whatever it was they were doing.

Sometimes Takeshi wished he knew more about what was going on in the kitchen. He vaguely recalled a time where he used to sit on the counter and watch his father chop the ingredients with breathtaking flare that always got Takeshi thinking about the Samurai of old.

Back then, his father's standard kitchen knife had morphed into a katana in his mind, he would relish the times his father would tuck him into bed, something that would always be followed by fantastic tales of sword battles staring his father and the uncle he never got to meet.

Back when his mother would be leaning against the frame of his bedroom door, her arms crossed and shaking her head at their antics.

"You're getting him worked up when he's supposed to get to bed." she would always say.

No.

Now was not the time to think about such things.

"Oh, Takeshi," Tsuyoshi answered, bringing the injured athlete out of his wandering thoughts. Ignoring the prickling behind his eyes, Takeshi allowed himself to look at his father's back, taking in every movement of his shoulders.

Were they slower than normal?

"You're late." the older man stated.

Oh… so he'd noticed.

"Yeah..." Takeshi forced the word out, he would not have his voice lock up on him now. "Sorry about that."

Say it. He told himself.

He'd promised Sawada that he would tell his old man, and he was going to do it.

He opened his mouth again, only to be cut off.

"What kept you?" Tsuyoshi asked.

Takeshi felt himself freeze up.

His father was… actually keeping the conversation going?

He shook his head. Now was not the time to get hung up on such things.

This was important.

When did he start shaking?

"Can-" his voice locked up.

No! Not now of all times!

Viciously clearing his throat, he forced himself to keep talking.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

The chopping halted yet again, his old man pausing as Takeshi's words registered into his mind.

At least he hoped they did.

The elder Yamamoto let out a long breath of what sounded like resignation.

"Not now Takeshi, I'm rather busy."

Of course he was, when was he NOT busy when Takeshi was the one to reach out?

Well… at least he actually sounded apologetic this time.

However… that would not do this time.

Taking a deep breath, Takeshi figured he should just apply the bio-fabric method.

"I tried to jump off the school rooftop!" he blurted out, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

All sound in the kitchen stopped, an eerie quiet enveloping the room as all but one turned to look at the teen.

The chefs stared wide-eyed at the owner's son, a young man that they had come to believe to be a strong, happy-go-lucky rising star on the baseball field. To hear him say that he had tried to take his own life… that he had been hurting so much that he'd thought to take that route…

Takeshi didn't meet any of their gazed, his eyes pinned on his father's strong back, his shoulders tense in fear of how the man would react to his words.

Not like he'd expected apparently.

"What?" Tsuyoshi's voice shook as he slowly turned around from his station, his knife dropping from his suddenly slack hand onto the chopping-board. For the first time in a long while, his eyes met those of his son, his shoulders not looking at all strong anymore, his overall posture looking almost hunched in on himself. "What did you say?" he breathed as he took one long, almost robotic step towards the teen, his wide eyes glossing over.

There was a lump in Takeshi's throat but he forced the words out.

"I almost jumped off the school rooftop." he repeated slowly, trying to keep his voice from shaking, his gaze falling to the floor as he scratched at the graffitied cast enveloping that damned broken arm. "Sawada managed to talk me out of it-"

He would have said more, but he didn't get the chance.

The very next second, his father's strong arms enveloped him for the first time in years, a hand behind his head shoving his face into his wide shoulder. The arms pressed him tightly against the slightly taller man, holding him tighter than he had the ability to remember at the moment.

They stood there for what felt like an eternity, Takeshi's eyes blown wide as he tried to process just what was happening.

"Old man-" he tried to speak but his father cut him off.

"Takeshi..."

Takeshi blinked.

His father was crying.

His old man was actually crying.

Just the sound of his name from the elder Yamamoto's lips had been so heavy with broken sobs that it had been incredibly difficult to even hear it, but Takeshi had, and that had been the catalyst for his own floodgates to burst open for the second time that day.

Sniffling, the teenager buried his face into his father's shoulder and allowed himself to do what he hadn't had the time for on that rooftop. To just let himself cry, to let all of his facades fall from his body hoping they would break beyond repair as they hit the floor beneath him and show something other than absolute happiness and excitement for once, knowing his actual feelings would be accepted by those around him.

And boy, did it feel good.

July 4

Saturday 2215

When she woke up that morning, she found that she could finally, finally, sit up without immediately falling back onto the mattress, sure, walking for a longer period of time was still something… less than reliable but she could move around the room without assistance, so that was a plus.

So there she was, baking in the afternoon light dressed up in white shorts and a large cotton crop t-shirt that constantly slipped down her shoulder, leaving her long legs bare. The temperature outside had been rising rather drastically as of late, there was no need to suffocate her legs with torturous things like socks during the summer.

She was getting her purse ready for going out when her door opened.

Turning around, Tsuna wasn't surprised to see Reborn standing in the doorway.

"Sit on the bed," he ordered, walking inside as he closed the door behind him.

This had become routine since she woke up, so Tsuna knew better than to disobey. Not that she would ever get the crazy idea to ever disobey Reborn, the thought itself was down right lunacy, no sane, logical man or woman with their hearts in the right place would ever think disobeying Reborn would be a good idea.

Dutifully, Tsuna settled down on the mattress as though sitting on a chair, her hands folded in her lap as she watched Reborn stalking over to her.

Once in front of her, he went down on his knees, taking her hand into his.

For what felt like the thousand time, she saw his obsidian eyes glow faintly yellow. Now she knew that was him calling on his own flames, focusing them into his eyes.

It always fascinated her, knowing the control it took just to release the flames into your blood at will. To then be able to control the flow to a specific part of the body... it all seemed light years away for her.

Even though she had managed to do the same thing whilst falling for her life, she had focused it on the entirety of her back, from her waist up to her shoulder-blades. That was a wide area, but to just focus the flames into such a small area such as the eyes... she wondered if she would ever be able to reach that level of control.

She watched as her tutor turned her hand over, spreading her fingers, moving it at the wrist as though he was a doctor looking for injuries in her hand, but she knew what he was really looking at.

The pulsing of her flames. The constant aura of heat surrounding her body, invisible to the naked eye but for a trained flame user, it was an easy task.

Reborn had become more and more open with her these past few days, asking her questions in stead of ignoring them, and she was eternally grateful for that.

By the way, a flame user was one who had gained control of their inner fires, capable of producing it through some sort of "outlet", meaning a metal or stone. Because of these people, special fabric was produced to withstand the fire because they were unable to control them.

Those who could do that were called "flame manipulators" and that was what Tsuna was. A person born with the natural ability to produce and control the flames originating inside of us.

She still had no idea what she had been dragged into through.

That secret, Reborn was keeping inside a top-secret vault with doors so thick a human being could have fallen into the mold whilst it was being made, his feet on the outside of the door and his head on the inside.

Tsuna gave an involuntary shudder.

Since when did she start having such disturbing thoughts.

After a moment, Reborn allowed Tsuna's hand to fall back into her lap and the eerie glow in his eyes finally faded away, leaving only the obsidian irises behind.

"Perfect," he stated, rising to his feet. "No abnormalities in the pulse of the flames." he looked her right in the eye with a calmer expression than the one he had been wearing for the past couple of days. "I think it's safe to say you're back to normal."

Tsuna couldn't help the relieved exhale from slipping out between her lips.

"Now," Reborn spoke up, bringing her attention back to him as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Pump some flames into your bloodstream."

Tsuna was shocked at the instruction.

He must really think she was alright if he asked this. But there was a small problem concerning it.

Tsuna hadn't actively tried to access her core for weeks, she had to worry whether she was still capable of doing it.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna straightened out her back, allowing her head to fall forward slightly as she slowly closed her eyes, cutting off the light within the room.

Funnily enough, she had expected it to take a few minutes before she felt the familiar ball of pulsing heat somewhere in the center of her chest. But... the second she closed her eyes, the searing heat hit her consciousness with such a brutal force that her breath was knocked out with it.

Gasping, her eyes snapped open.

The heat was still there, right at the center of her chest, and it burned to the point of absolute agony.

Breathless, she clutched at the fabric of her top, doubling over in a desperate attempt to try and quell the pain.

Within seconds, Reborn was next to her, hands on her shoulders from behind as he tried to pull her back, to straighten her back.

"Tsuna." she heard his deep voice through her heaved breathing.

Why was he pulling her back? Her pain was ebbing away.

Or was that the world slowly clouding over?

"Tsunako," Reborn spoke again, sounding much more determined than before. "You're limiting your lung capacity by doing that, sit up." and he actually managed to force her back up, straightening out her spine. His hand snaked over to the front of her neck, forcing up her chin, and before she knew what hit her, a huge amount of oxygen filled her lungs.

It was so sudden, with such a force against her rib-cage, that it sent her into a coughing fit.

It took a few moments before Tsuna found herself capable to properly breathe again.

"Tsuna?" Reborn's questioning tone spoke up once her breathing no longer came out in breathless puffs. His hand rested between her shoulder blades. "What did you feel?"

It took another moment before Tsuna located her voice.

"Has..." she gasped, swallowing down her brief hiccuping before she felt she could continue. "Has it become stronger?" she turned her face in Reborn's direction, the shock clear on her face.

A sigh escaped the man's lips.

"I can't tell until you've released some into your bloodstream." he rubbed his thumb over her skin, oddly enough soothing her of the pain in her chest.

Yes, it was still there, but now barely more than an aching memory than something actually painful.

"Think you can do that?" he asked carefully, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"I... I think so..." Tsuna mumbled.

It had been such a huge shock before. She had been so unprepared for the massive amount of pulsing flame that appeared to have doubled in size since the last time she felt for the core. Now, she had a better feel for just what she would find when she looked inside herself.

Hopefully, she wouldn't become as overwhelmed.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed her eyes to fall closed.

There is was, large and pulsing at the center of her chest.

With frightening ease, Tsuna wrapped her will around it, slowly squeezing it, allowing the sizzling fire to seep out into her veins.

The last time she had done this, she would have needed to squeeze for three seconds at least before she felt a difference, but now, that one squeeze was enough to send her skin tingling.

She could feel Reborn's experienced eyes pinned on her as she felt the flames steadily pumping through her body, coursing alongside her blood with a comforting heat. It was like lying under the sun on the beach in the middle of summer, only the heat was coming from the inside.

It was a strange experience.

"Alright, that's enough." Reborn's voice sounded through the previous silence, knocking her out of her thoughts.

Opening her eyes, Tsuna sat completely motionless until the flames faded out of existence, knowing that movement will just keep fanning them, keeping them alive for longer than one trip through the body should allow for.

Once she couldn't feel the fire anymore, she turned her head towards Reborn. Waiting.

The tutor studied her for a moment before he opened his mouth.

"Sometimes, when one releases a vast amount of flames all at the same time, they empty out the core," he explained slowly, eyes pinned on her head.

Tsuna flashed back to when she was falling off the school roof. Just how much fire had she released back then?

Reborn's voice brought her out of her wondering.

"When that happens, the core expands on itself, becoming larger in an attempt for that to not happen again." he pinned her with a serious expression. "An empty core equals no more strength your will and determination can feed off of, and so, your body knocks itself out." his eyes narrowed dangerously. "If it's bad enough, or if the person is left alone, you can even die due to your heart or brain no longer having the strength to keep working."

Tsuna's eyes widened at his words.

Turning away from him, Tsuna allowed herself to fold over, leaning her forearms on her knees and tightly weaving her fingers together as she stared down at the ground.

Just how many times would she brush with death like that?

She wasn't suicidal! Never have been!

Swallowing heavily, she finally dared to open her mouth.

"How did I survive then?"

A hand landed on her shoulder.

"The yellow flames can be used for many purposes." Reborn's voice was surprisingly gentle, running his hand over her shoulder. "I kick-started your flame generating process as soon as I got you home."

Tsuna's head snapped towards him, her eyes wide with fear.

"Won't the same thing happen like the last time you used your flames on me?" she asked, her voice only seconds away from trembling.

Slowly, Reborn shook his head.

"That only happens when there is nothing to heal or activate in your body." he kept his face calm, hoping that his attitude would rub off on her. "You're perfectly safe."

It took a moment for Tsuna to accept this, but finally, she allowed herself to calm down.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to straighten out, fall back against her bed, feeling the crown of her skull brushing against the wall before she collided with the sheets.

One of the few times she appreciated her short stature.

A pleased expression on his face, Reborn looked down on his student.

"You've done great progress," he noted, lifting his hand to allow it to fall over her own limp one resting at her side. "Most DiLeone have to train several years before they even brush against the same level of control and power that you display."

Tsuna couldn't help the exasperated huff that escaped her lips.

"By almost dying." she raised herself up on her forearms, staring at her tutor. "Forgive me if I'm not all that hyped up over my progress." she let herself fall back against the sheets, staring up at the ceiling with a close-to blank expression in her eyes.

Reborn chose to ignore this behavior.

"Your training will resume tomorrow," he stated, getting off the bed.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, her eyebrows curved into a frown, her hands moving to her wrist where she immediately began scratching her skin with her blunt nails.

For some reason, her skin always started itching whenever the flames had fully ebbed away from her veins.

It was annoying.

Noticing her action, Reborn's expression softened the slightest.

"It will stop itching after a while." he said, "Your skin is not yet used to the fire flooding in your veins, once it is, the itching will stop occurring."

For a moment, Tsuna said nothing, then, her head moved against the sheets in an understanding nod.

A knock sounded through the room, cutting off any conversation that could have gone on.

Reborn was at the door within seconds, almost ripping it open.

There stood Gokudera, wearing a blood-red and black raglan hoodie, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows as always, wrists covered in leather bangles and rings on his fingers. So nothing really different from what he usually wore, but he couldn't have been a more welcomed sight.

"Reborn-san." Gokudera greeted with a small bow to his head before he turned to Tsuna. "You ready to go?"

"One second," Tsuna answered, holding up a finger.

Quickly, she fished up her purse from the floor, hung it over her shoulders, and with a quick wave to Reborn, she was out the door, closely followed by the delinquent.

Shaking his head, Reborn turned his eyes away from where his student had just disappeared.

Moving towards her bedroom window, he watched through the curtains as she and her male friend. It looked so normal, so casual... but he knew that Sawada Tsunako was anything but normal.

He would have to tell her soon, that was a given.

He'd wait until she had mastered the basics though, then, then he would take her aside and tell her everything she wanted to know.

Shouldn't take more than a few weeks or so.

Tsuna really couldn't understand why Nana had called Gokudera for this.

She didn't even understand why her mother had become so insistent on keeping contact with her friend ever since they exchanged contact information during the one time Tsuna had invited the guy home for dinner.

Did friends normally exchange contact information with one's parents?

She didn't think so.

As she and Gokudera stepped out of the convenience store, almost an hour after they had first stepped out of her front door, she was fully aware as to why Gokudera had been called.

The young man was carrying three large paper bags in his arms, having absolutely refused to allow her to carry even the one.

Now usually, she would have brushed this sort of behavior off as Gokudera's regular over-protectiveness, but the two of them had long since agreed that he would never do something for her that the two of them both knew would be too physically challenging for him, and judging by the way he was struggling with the position of the bags in his arms, this was most certainly too much for him.

"You really don't need to do this." she insisted with a sigh.

Shaking his head, Gokudera once again adjusted his hold on the bags.

"Juudaime is still recovering." he insisted, using the same excuse he had used the entire way from the check-out point.

"I'm recovering, not invalid," Tsuna argued, her voice raising slightly to mirror her emotions at Gokudera's insinuations.

"Let me do something for you." the young man asked, looking at her from over the top of the bags, meeting her eyes for the first time since he had practically hidden his face behind the begs after packing them.

"You've already done more than enough." Tsuna practically yelled in exasperation.

Stepping out in front of her friend, she put her hands on the bags, she forced the young delinquent into a halt.

For a long moment, the two of them just looked at each other.

"What's really bothering you?" she asked, not breaking their eye-contact.

She watched as a flash of regret entered those olive orbs. Realization washing over her even before her friend opened his mouth.

"Not catching you before you fell off the school roofs." Gokudera's voice was little more than a whisper as he forced the words out through his mouth.

Annoyed, Tsuna shook her head.

"I'm not holding that against you," she whispered, placing her hand over the back of his own.

Gokudera practically ripped his eyes away from hers, directing them towards the ground.

"I am."

She looked at her friend for a long moment, taking in the look of absolute regret on his face before she let go of a long breath, shaking her head at his protectiveness of her.

Squaring her shoulders, she reached out and snatches one of the bags from his grip.

"Juudaime, what are you-?" Gokudera tried to speak up.

Tsuna didn't allow him too.

"It's a compromise," she said, adjusting the grip on the bag as she stubbornly looked the young man right in the eye.

Reluctantly, Gokudera gave an understanding nod.

With a pleased smile, Tsuna continued walking, Gokudera closely following behind her.

They were walking through the park when they heard it.

They terrified screams of a young kid overshadowing the angered cries of a man.

Looking ahead of them, they spotted a young boy, couldn't have been much older than eight years old, dressed in tattered jeans and a VERY dirty cow-print shirt and sporting a head of equally dirty, messy black curls, closely followed by a muscly bald man in a white tank-top and a large colorful dragon tattoo lining his large right arm.

The look in the man's eye was absolutely murderous

The kid on the other hand, rightfully, looked scared for his life.

Gokudera immediately recognized the kid.

He had, after all, seeing him two times already. One time being the cause of his anger after he had snatched his wallet on his way home, and the other causing a moment of fear as he had caused Juudaime one of her attacks.

Speaking of Juudaime, her eyes had widened at the sight.

As they watched, the man was slowly gaining on the kid.

Gokudera looked away, mentally preparing to drag Juudaime away from the scene, seeing as he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to handle seeing a young boy get pummeled to the ground because of his own reckless behavior.

It didn't happen that way.

Once he turned towards Juudaime, she had already settled her bags down on a nearby bench and rushed towards the two as fast as her legs could carry her.

Not caring who heard him, Gokudera burst into a chain of curses.

Juudaime was anything but what one might consider brave, but self-sacrificing in instances where she witnesses her moral code being broken or someone weaker than herself in desperate need of help?

Yes, yes she was.

How the hell could he have forgotten that particular aspect of her?

It hadn't even been that long since he had last witnessed that trait in action. Excluding the rooftop incident, which, quite frankly, he wanted to forget.

Gokudera couldn't help but curse himself.

How could he have forgotten why he had decided to follow her in the first place?

Quickly setting the bags down next to the one she had left behind, Gokudera set off after the young woman, his one hand reaching into his back pocket as he went.

There was no way he would allow Juudaime to get hurt because of her angelic morals.

A/N: Yup, another fucking cliffhanger.

I swear to everything I believe in that I do not plan these things, they just happen.

Please tell me what you think and the net chapter will be up next week.

This has been:

A message from Her Ladyship.